Pat Blythe – All That Jazz VII – The Canadian Connection

Jazz was birthed in the U.S. but it didn’t take long to head north to Canada. It was first introduced to Canadian audiences in 1914, when a New Orleans band The Original Creole Orchestra performed a matinee gig at the Pantages Playhouse Theatre in Winnipeg. The stop was part of their western Canada tour. The band of six musicians included one of jazz’s early masters, cornettist Freddie Keppard. Jazz pianist Jelly Roll Morton performed in Vancouver cabarets from 1919 to 1921. Canada and the U.S. share the longest land border in the world so it was no surprise Canada quickly became the first country outside the U.S. to cultivate its own jazz scene.  “In Canada, as elsewhere, musicians took to jazz and made it their own, although not before they’d had the benefit of good tutelage from touring U.S. musicians – mostly black – for whom “Canadian time,” as they called touring north of the border, was a relief from the constant racism of the U.S. and a new, quite profitable source of revenue.” – Quill & Quire

Pat Bythe – All That Jazz Part VI

This is going to be a long one…….

For the early students of jazz, there were no books or educational courses. The best a young musician had was listening to the music live, following by recordings. You couldn’t take a live performance home, and recordings could be scarce, or simply out of reach financially. As jazz grew in popularity throughout the decades, more and more recordings made this rapidly changing genre more available and attainable.

Pat Blythe – All That Jazz – Part V

I’m going to start with a quote from Encyclopedia Britannica. “Most early classical composers (such as Aaron Copland, John Alden Carpenter—and even Igor Stravinsky, who became smitten with jazz) were drawn to its (jazzes) instrumental sounds and timbres, the unusual effects and inflections of jazz playing (brass mutes, glissandos, scoops, bends, and stringless ensembles), and its syncopations, completely ignoring, or at least under appreciating, the extemporized aspects of jazz. Indeed, the sounds that jazz musicians make on their instruments—the way they attack, inflect, release, embellish, and colour notes—characterize jazz playing to such an extent that if a classical piece were played by jazz musicians in their idiomatic phrasings, it would in all likelihood be called jazz.

Frank Gutch Jr: Zineville: The Words Behind the Music…..

Hear me when I tell you that No Small Children is a force with which to be reckoned (that’s literary speak for “force to be reckoned with”, sports fans).  Solid music, good vids and a dedication to doing music the way they want, and they’re schoolteachers by day!  I mean, I had my fantasies about my teachers, but if they had played in a band?!!!  I don’t know if I would have made it through.  This time around, they pull a handful of punches aimed at old music vids and have me rolling on the floor laughing.  I would tell you that they are, but why should I? You have a mouse and (hopefully) a hand with which to operate it.  Click on the video below and treat yourself.